One of life's meatier issues: the best burger

For a small neighborhood joint, Hodad's sure gets a lot of attention. Even CNN is trumpeting it these days.

And, no, it's not because President Obama had a shake there or a tornado leveled it. (CNN loves tornado stories).

It's because of its burgers.

CNN.com recently ran a piece touting five burger joints in the nation that shouldn't be missed. Hodad's – a funky, lively place on Ocean Beach's main drag – made the list.

Hodad's is no stranger to the limelight. Last year, it was featured on the Food Network show “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.”

When it comes to local burgers spots, it's the, um, Burger King.

I'm happy for Hodad's, which is so down-scale it looks like a 14-year-old surfer got the decorating contract. License plates from throughout the nation hang on the walls. Surf boards dangle from the ceiling.

And it does have very good burgers.

To be honest, I've always leaned toward Rocky's Crown Pub in Pacific Beach when the urge hits. The burgers there are simple, tasty, manageable.

But all the attention on Hodad's got me thinking maybe I had gone too long without a burger from the place that proudly says over its doors: “World's Best Burgers. Under 99 Billion Sold.”

Normally I have a good excuse for not going. I live about a mile from the place, and whenever I pass it there's a line that stretches to El Cajon.

So I got tactical this time. I went Monday, before noon. And the line only went to Old Town.

(Rocky's is always jammed, too. I like burgers, but I like my job, too. Three-hour lunches? Not a good career move these days.)

Once at Hodad's, I ordered the bacon cheeseburger, which got special mention in the CNN story. Guy Fieri, the host of “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives,” actually called it “ridiculous.”

Good word. It was.

I went through at least five napkins when eating the burger, which, with fries, cost $7.50. I had to work hard to keep the bun, thick with mayo, from sliding off the meat and cheese and bacon. I bet I burned 9 calories doing so.

As good as it was – and it was good – I still have to go with Rocky's for this very simple reason: I don't have the digestive system of a 17-year-old.

I finished that Hodad's burger and I napped until 7 p.m. (Um, also not a good career move.) Rocky's serves a 1/3-pound burger that I find more, well, accessible. With fries, it goes for $7.75.

People can get a little weird about burgers. We all seem to have our favorites. We stick our flags in them – believe me, some are big enough to do so – and we proudly stand by them.

My editor, for instance, insists the best local burgers are at the Waterfront Bar and Grill in Little Italy. But she weighs 97 pounds. I bet she nibbles on them daintily. Sorry, but I'm putting my faith in true chowhounds.

I met a few at Hodad's.

“Best burger I ever had,” said Mark Porter of Rhode Island. “And I've had burgers from all over the world.”

Porter had just finished a double-bacon cheeseburger. Whoa. I had the single. He's in a different league altogether.

He was with two buddies, Gary LaShomb and Brian Birt, also from Rhode Island. They were in town working on submarines and heard about Hodad's from a local buddy. They're former military guys who have traveled the world. They know burgers.

“It's the taste, the meat,” said LaShomb, who also placed Hodad's at the top of his burger list.

“Awesome,” Birt said of his.

That was pretty much the story throughout the restaurant. People were talking up the burgers as if they had stock in the place.

No one does, of course. It's a mom and pop shop. A chain of one. It's been around since the early 1970s at its Newport Avenue location in the heart of Ocean Beach. A mini VW bus is against one wall. You can sit in it and eat.

“I come here about once a month,” said Rudy Elias, who lives in National City.